SHOW: NBC Nightly News 6:30 AM EST NBC
January 22, 2005 Saturday
LENGTH: 476 words
HEADLINE: New government regulations requiring food labels to print trans fat
information will affect the food industry
ANCHORS: JOHN SEIGENTHALER
REPORTERS: MIKE TAIBBI
BODY:
JOHN SEIGENTHALER, anchor:
NBC news IN DEPTH tonight, fat free food. Figuring out what that means these
days can be challenging for even the most health-conscious label watchers. But a
new federal rule about artery-clogging trans fats already has companies vying
for their share of the fat-free market. Here's NBC's Mike Taibbi.
MIKE TAIBBI reporting:
Sally Vanderveer of suburban Boulder, Colorado, does the family grocery
shopping at the Wild Oats Market...
Ms. SALLY VANDERVEER: I'm--I'm an extremely careful shopper.
TAIBBI: ...because the Wild Oats Market only sell food products without trans
fats.
Unidentified Man: We don't need them in our store.
TAIBBI: Trans fats are created when vegetable oils are hydrogenated. Think of
corn oil processed into margarine. And while they've boosted profits by creating
tasty products that seem to last forever, the FDA concluded in 2002 they were
potential cardiac killers.
Ms. LISA SASSON (Dietitian, New York University): They increase the LDL
cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol, the cholesterol that goes to your
arteries of your heart.
TAIBBI: So by next January, this so-called "stealth fat" has to be listed by
percentage on all product packaging, the first required addition to the familiar
nutrition facts panel in 13 years. But a lot of companies are jumping the gun
and crowing about it. For example, all Frito Lay chips, trans fat free. Oreos,
now with a trans fat free option. Some industry analysts say there's a gold rush
heading up the trans fat free mountain.
Mr. JAMES CHUNG (Food Industry Analyst): I can almost guarantee you that
almost every big food manufacturer has their engineers, chefs, and chemists
working on this issue.
TAIBBI: In fact, in the coming year, many processed snacks and baked goods
and vegetable-oil based shortenings and spreadables will spend time in the lab
to be tinkered with if not reinvented.
So what's happened to all those popular foods that speak so directly to our
keenest cravings? Will they spoil faster? Cost more? Taste different? Will they
be less appealing?
Pepperidge Farms spokesperson, Nan Redman, says the changes will add to cost,
but won't change the taste.
Ms. NAN REDMAN: That is our commitment, to make sure that the new products
are every bit as good and equal to in premium quality as the old ones.
TAIBBI: Some trans fat staples may fade away.
Mr. CHUNG: The day of the Twinkie, I think it's fair to say, it's over.
TAIBBI: Others will remain for the same reason there are still buyers of
those monster burgers. But the Vanderveer family has already made the switch.
Ms. VANDERVEER: I think there's enough good choices out there.
TAIBBI: And by this time next year, consumers anywhere can just read the
label and make the same choice. Mike Taibbi, NBC News, New York.
SEIGENTHALER: When we come back, more on the winter weather, but this time it
's too warm.
Copyright (C) National Broadcasting Co., 2005.
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